Mother (2018)

Don't forget your tissue boxes

I'm not going to go too in depth with this review because simply writing about Mother won't give it the justice that it deserves. I watched Mother months ago, but my heart still aches whenever I think about it (I promise that I'm not crying as I write this review). I believe that Mother is the true definition of an unforgettable series. Every element of the show, from the story to the music, enhanced each other in such a way that without even one element, the show wouldn't be the same. This unity within the show might be why it's so unlike any other Asian dramas out there. Along with how unified the show is, I felt that the story was amazingly executed. No matter how interesting a story is, if it's not executed properly, then it's meaning will be lost. So, it's truly amazing that the story of Mother is carried out so well that the meaning isn't lost. I also appreciated how every character and every part of the story always related back to one thing; the "kidnapping." Sometimes, shows get so carried away with their side stories that it becomes really confusing. So, it was refreshing to see that everything in Mother always related back to the "kidnapping" in some way. Honestly, I still don't understand how something as genuine and as brilliant as Mother could ever be created, but it was created, so we should give ourselves a chance to appreciate this masterpiece.

PS: I gave a low rewatch value rating because Mother is so special that I wouldn't want to ruin it's impact on me by rewatching it.

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Well... What can I say about this drama... Where I can start to explain how I was positively influenced by the content. It was emotionally rich and I think it is a good project because it shows an important relationship in the world: being mother-child.

It was a drama that showed how the concept of "motherhood" can be understood in different ways. What is the meaning of being a mother? What is being a mother? Who is a mother? Through all the episodes it was interesting to see how being a mother can be a difficult but important role for the children. It was a good time investment to try to understand how it can be declined the relationship between a mother and a child.

It was important to understand the personal experiences that shape the view about motherhood. Seeing how the various traumas and the happiness in various periods of life can influence and define the individuum and the decisions that will be taken in the future.

About the casting, I can say that the various actresses did deliver the characters' emotions and particularities in a good way. particularly the main roles: Lee Bo Young and Heo Yool. Very happy about that.

Last but not least, this drama is a remake of another Japanese project. Personally, I did not watch the original version, so I can not compare the two stories and productions, but I think that the two projects would always have their strong points and critical points.

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This is a heartbreaking drama. It's also one of the best and most emotional dramas I've seen in a long time. One defining characteristic of this drama is that everything happening in it was just so crude, so spontaneous. The characters were literally deciding on their next steps as they went along - from Soo Jin and Hye Na, Soo Jin's family, the police, and even all the way to Seol Ak. This sense of unpredictability is what kept me glued to this drama.

However, what makes this drama so beautifully painful and complicated is that it left me confused as to what's right and wrong. The main characters were all doing something morally right but legally wrong, or even legally right but morally wrong. Soo Jin steals Hye Na from her parent and guardian, but saves her from future harm. Did we all literally just justify and condone kidnapping if it's for the greater good? Soo Jin's sister reports her to the police and the investigation goes public. Rightfully so and by all means report a kidnapping. But what happens to Hye Na who might've actually been saved from future harm? A lot of side characters had to step up and make big decisions, all of which tested their morality and sense of justice. Jo Han Chul and his partner were both adamant about fulfilling their roles as cops, but throughout the chase, both eventually got swayed.

Is it right to be wrong, or is it wrong to be right? Cry a bit, or cry a lot. Laugh a bit (those siblings at the barber shop / saloon), or laugh a lot (what's there to laugh at?). What I'm truly getting at is just watch this goddamn drama.

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As someone who is a big fan of romance dramas, I didn’t expect myself to be so immersed in a storyline of another genre. However, I found myself crying and hurting for all the characters in almost every single episode – and after completing the drama in about 3-4 days, I can confidently say that Mother is on the top of my favorites list. I can’t even begin to explain how well-written and well-executed this drama was. After experiencing Lee Bo Young’s amazing skill and talent as an actress in various other dramas, I set the bar pretty high for Mother – and I was not disappointed. Not only did she take on her role with confidence, it also seemed as if she truly felt the pain and love that a mother would feel – a connection with her character that made each scene even more touching, raw, and emotional. I’ve seen several BTS cuts of her crying, even after the scene had ended – this only made me appreciate her even more as an actress. Furthermore, Heo Yool did an excellent job at portraying the reality of abusive domestic relationships. For someone so young, she has so much talent and resilience to be playing such a heart-wrenching role. All of the supporting actors and actresses did an amazing job as well; even though I loved some and hated most, I truly appreciate how each character was executed in a way that contributed to the story line. Cut out all the fluff, fillers, and bullshit – this drama gives you the true reality of how screwed up family, friends, and romantic relationships can be; it also personally made me appreciate the people in my life more. Re-watch value would be a 2/10 because I’m not trying to add to my one liter of tears here (if you catch my reference, I love you). In general, I would recommend watching this drama; it’s definitely an eye-opener.

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Beautiful and haunting from start to finish, Mother is a drama that's in a league of it's own. This drama isn't for those faint of heart and it works best that way—the problem of child abuse and how it effects children even all the way to adulthood, to the inner workings of children and how they understand more than we give them credit for, to the true meaning of the what it means and takes to become a mother in both positives and negatives is at the heart of this drama and makes it so incredibly beautiful to watch. There's twists and turns at every point, and you'll be holding your breath throughout every episode, and like myself, you'll probably have a good long cry after during some episodes.

The acting was beyond amazing. Lee Boyoung, Heo Yool, Lee Hyeyoung and Go Sunghee gave spectacular performances from start to end, and you really got a great sense of all of their characters and the complicated nature of all of their relationships. Even the more 'support' cast had wonderful performances and not one character was hopelessly thrown in with no real purpose—even the characters you think may have little to no point end up having a significant role as the story continues along. Also special props to Son Seok Koo (who plays Lee Seol Ak) for such a great performance and depth he gave to his character to the very end.

This drama isn't something I can rewatch easily, considering I had to take it in small doses, but it was a beautiful watch and something I would recommend to anybody who wants to see a drama really focused on an issue, with great female characters across the board, and with a story that will touch you to your core.

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This drama was in watchlist since it first started airing back in 2018. The plot itself was enough for me to know that this drama will be emotionally draining. Fast forward to 2023, after being recommended to watch it by a lot of my kdrama friends, I finally decided to watch it.

The drama was surely draining for me, but not in a bad way. This is an extremely good drama, and maybe would end up in my top 10 dramas if I were to create a list for that.

Coming back to the drama, I loved the fact that this wasn't just a single dimensional saving the kid from her abusive mother (and her partner) plotline. It was a lot more than that. While the title Mother (or Call me Mother) may suggest Kang Soo Jin's decision to become Kim Yoon Bok (Kim Hye Na)'s mother, but the title actually has got a lot more broader significance to it.

Throughout the drama we come across and get to see different kind of mothers:

1. Kang Soo Jin: An Ornithologist (bird researcher) who works in a school part time for a few days while planning to go to Iceland and continue to work on her research. Due to her childhood trauma of being left behind at an orphanage by her biological mother, she has decided to not become a mother.

But when she sees a kid who reminds her of her abusive childhood, she decides to become a mother for the child, and goes to the extent her of kidnapping the kid (with her consent) in order to save her from her abusive mother and her partner. Throughout the drama we see Soo Jin struggling and trying to find the best way in order to get away with Yoon Bok, and also make sure she loves her a mother.

2. Shin Ja Young: She is Hye Na's biological mother. She is almost completely opposite to what Kang Soo Jin is a mother. Her partner broke up with her on the day Hye Na was born and must have struggled a lot making a living as a single mother. Things get worse when she gets dependent on a man, who is not only a child abuser, but sort of a serial child killer as well. While at times you sort of do understand why Shin Ja Young is the way she is, but that doesn't really justify her actions towards Hye Na.

Multiple times the drama shows that Hye Na was never a priority for her. She doesn't care much even when the Police suspect Hye Na to be dead, and doesn't even care if she is alive or not as long as she is away from her.

3. Nam Hong Hee: She is Kang Soo Jin's biological mother. While in the starting episodes we get to see the events of Soo Jin being left behind at the orphanage from her and also from Sister Clara's Point of view, things get clear when you get to know the truth about it once we get to know Nam Hong Hee's side story.

She had to leave Soo Jin at the orphanage since she had killed her abusive partner who had hit both of them, and so was going to confess to the police. She wouldn't want Soo Jin to be left alone with no one around to take care of her, and also didn't want the "murderer's child" tag to be put upon Soo Jin. That was the main reason for her leaving her daughter at the orphanage.

Once she got released from the prison, she finds a place near Soo Jin's residence in order to at least get to see her daughter grow up. While you may hate Nam Hong Hee in the start, but as things get clearer you cannot help but feel sorry for a mother who had to kill her partner who was hitting her child, and as a result had to go to prison. She didn't really have a choice back then, and did what she thought would be best for her child. Maybe she knew this would traumatizing for her child, or even knew she would be hated for that and never get to see her, but at that time, her priority was to ensure Soo Jin would have a place to sleep, get to eat and be safe.

While both Nam Hong Hee and Shin Ja Young are similar in being mothers who abandoned their child, and also had abusive partners. They are a lot different as mothers. One killed her partner to save her child, decided to give up being mother just so her child could be safe, but the other was ready to sacrifice her kid as long as she could live and get away with her partner.

4. Cha Young Shin: I'll be honest. When the drama started, and we didn't really know anything about her, I thought she was a baddie. We see Soo Jin having flashbacks of herself being abused, and we see Cha Young Shin sort of aggressively look for her. But little did I know how great and sweet of a character she was.

It was just so beautiful to know it was Soo Jin who actually helped Young Shin heal herself when she was crying be herself in the orphanage. Soo Jin thinking her to be a new kid decided to help her sleep and calm her down. I just loved how she loved Soo Jin despite her not meeting or talking to for the past 10 years.

Cha Young Shin was such a lively character, she was full of emotions, she knew how to take actions and when to take actions. She didn't even let her other 2 daughters feel that they were adopted and raised them making them believe they were her biological daughters. She was not not only a great mother to all of them, but was a great grandmother to her grandkids as well as Yoon Bok.


You could at times not understand her, especially when it came to some of her actions towards Nam Hong Hee when she comes to know she is Soo Jin's real mom. But she redeems herself by correcting things, and also meeting up with Nam Hong Hee. Sometimes you see her really crave for love from Soo Jin, you her being insecure and scared to whether Soo Jin really sees her as her mom. It was really great to see Soo Jin finally talk to her and confess how much she loves her as her mother.

All the mothers mentioned above are what make the title of this drama as Mother. Throughout the drama we see how action any of those mothers actually affected and still affects the lives of the characters. Just like how Lee Seol Ak's mother's abusive behavior towards him and suicide made him how he was now. He became just like his mother when it came to abuse, or maybe even worse, and that was when how he later started to kill children for very random reasons like they being very noise or even quiet.

Another very interesting take of this drama was on the fact that who a Mother really is. Is she the one who gives birth to a child, or is it the one who actually loves, takes care and nurtures the kid. We saw how Soo Jin, and Cha Young Shin decided to take care of children who were not related to them. As I said, Cha Young Shin even raised her other 2 daughters as if they were her biological daughters and they never got to suspect that. And then we have mothers like Shin Ja Young, or Lee Seol Ak's mother, who are abusive in nature and hardly cared about their kids.

You don't develop motherly love for anyone just because you gave birth to them. You can develop motherly love for children if you decide to take up the role of their mother, and that is what we got to see in Soo Jin and Cha Young Shin's case. Soo Jin's love for Yoon Bok was so genuine, that she even made a detective question himself for going after her and consider giving up in between, and he would have done that if his senior partner would not have made him continue the investigation. Time after time we see people know Soo Jin and Yoon Bok are not related, but after seeing their interaction together, they decide to turn a blind eye and help them.

Yoon Bok/Hye Na as a character also shows us that kids are not always clueless as they show to be. Yoon Bok always knew what was happening to her, but would always defend Shin Ja Young since she would blame herself for Shin Ja Young's hard life. Throughout the drama we see Yoon Bok feel and understand the emotions of other people, know what kind of people they really are by observing them. Also seeing the scenes of her living in child shelter in the later episodes and helping out kids and play with them, makes you really think how her life would have been if she would have a proper mother or parent who would give her love as much as she gives to others. She might be an abused child, but she is a very cheerful kid who is always ready to help others.

Everything about this drama was almost perfect, from the start to the ending when we finally get to see Soo Jin officially adopt Yoon Bok as her daughter. The only thing I think I would have liked to see the drama explore a bit more is towards backstory of Shin Ja Young. I know we get to see her the flashback scene of her partner breaking up with her just when she gave birth to Hye Na, but I hoped we would get to see a bit more of her backstory to sort of understand her character more. Other than that this was a great drama for me.

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Being a mother has nothing to do with giving birth.

I watched many things over the years (Korean dramas, Anime shows, TV series).. And I consider many of them a masterpiece. But this.. This drama for me is isn't just a masterpiece, this is an abolute gem that needs to be treasured and cherised. The emotions that it invokes will completely drain your eyes, make your heart ache and sadful, almost every episode has made me cry.. The Acting was fantastic, especially from the two main leads Mom and Yon Boki, they have competely lived through the characters, never it came to my mind I was watching a Korean drama. Many dialogues from this deeply moving drama are to be framed on every wall of my house. The cinematography and editing are extremely great. The visuals are a work of art (The ocean scenes and many more)..
As I said, I have watched many shows and I loved many ones, but this drama is a treasure for me.. You can feel that everyone took this project deeply to their hearts and put everything they have into it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for every one cast and crew who were involved to gave us the opportunity to experience this in our lives. This drama deserves more attention.. This drama is a MUST WATCH.

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Brilliant

Cried buckets. This is a fine piece of storytelling. I haven't watched the Japanese version of this story but I don't think I will because this one put me through the wringer. I loved the care given to the characters. There were so many layers to each character and I enjoyed the slow peeling off of the stories. I disliked many people in the story but somehow they all redeemed themselves quickly.

The acting was top notch. I truly loved the child actor. She was phenomenal. From the start to the end, she did a splendid job portraying this interesting character.Where does one start to talk about Hye-Na / Yoon-Bok? This sensitive, street-smart kid who desperately wanted love. Who could lie so easily. Who held deep wounds but who was so willing to love and trust, again. The titular character could feel bland at first glance but she has a lot of depth and is one of those 'still water runs deep' type of person. The actor suited the role perfectly.

I also loved how the mother and child had really honest conversations. There was no sugar-coating.

The drama did a great job of exploring the many facets of motherhood. It's not always peaches and cream. But it's not all black and white either. And not all women have the motherly instinct as soon as they become biological mothers. Some women need partners in orderto be a good, responsible parent. Some others do not need a man,. That's just how the world is.

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Wow this drama received a lot of love in the reviews, but I think it should come with a warning label. It is extremely emotional to those who have experienced loss of a parent, physical or mental abuse, or abandonment. I cried and cried. I would never have watched this if I had known...I can't write spoilers.

I like that the writer is trying to bring to light some of the atrocities and stereotypes that occur in this world. I don't know why some people have put a taboo on adopted children. I don't know why people don't immediately take a child away from abusive parents...even if they have to investigate. Isn't it better safe then sorry??? The way people treat single mothers is awful. Hasn't anyone ever heard that it takes a tribe to raise a child. If we cared more about people, then maybe these horrible things wouldn't happen as often. I could go on and on, but I will stop now. At least the writer didn't glorify kidnapping a child even if it is to get the child out of a horrible situation. The symbolism of the writer using the birds was well done.

The problem with this drama and the reason why I gave it a lower score is that it wouldn't have been as good with out Heo Yool. I don't know where this little girl came from, but she is awesome. I felt for her through the entire drama and wondered if she might need counseling after playing such a role. I have liked Lee Bo Young in other things, but she lacked in this drama. I just couldn't get into the "mother" character she was trying to portray. In the end I would have dropped this if it weren't for the little girl.

The music was pretty.

I will never rewatch this.

I only recommend this drama to those who want to cry.

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Going into this drama, I was unsure of how good it would be, as I generally am not a fan of child acting. All the acting was fantastic however, and every episode never failed to tug at my heart. I was so emotional watching this drama, and I could not wait for each episode to come out. Very binge-worthy, all around a great drama. I would 100% recommend this to people, especially if you like something that will stay with you for a long time. It was a drama that didn't require romance, as the deep connection between the mother and child was enough to bring tears. Such an amazing piece of filmogrpahy...

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